Hemisport's E46 M3 Vert and New Daily Driver

[motortrend]

Very nice, High quality, though probably a PITA to keep it looking that nice

 

[hemisport15]

Ohhhh so shiny and beautiful.

Thanks! Pictures don't even do it justice. Even the pipes that connect to the muffler are drool worthy.

Very nice, High quality, though probably a PITA to keep it looking that nice

Haha, nothing lasts forever right? Along with the quality/finish, I forgot to mention it's 20 lbs lighter and it's made in the USA!

Fun Fact: It was inspired by the Mclaren F1 exhaust design.

 

[hemisport15]

I hope the mods don't mind me double posting so much in my own thread, but oh well!

My "rest of the world" headlights showed up yesterday!

That's the only pic I've taken of them so far, but here are some pics of the other items included in the purchase. (I got these pics from the internet/seller)

Here are the electric aim motors that plug into the back.

As well as the interior switch that adjusts the level of the projectors.

And some assorted wires/adapters to hook it all up.

I'm not sure when I'll be installing them, but I will be putting the exhaust on this Saturday. Also, the headliner is all finished so I'll try to get some pics of that.

 

[motortrend]

That adjuster level switch is super cool. My headlights level automatically when the car starts up but I think I need to manually adjust them because they are aiming way too high right now

 

[hemisport15]

That adjuster level switch is super cool. My headlights level automatically when the car starts up but I think I need to manually adjust them because they are aiming way too high right now

Yeah, I'm really happy I was able to find someone who was selling all of these parts. Usually you just get the headlights and then have to buy adapters, wires, and if you're lucky enough to find the switch separately.

And that's a pretty cool feature! Mine are similar, I just have to adjust/set them at the three positions (0, 1, 2) and then I can select them whenever I want. By the way, if you ever want to trade your car for an M3 in the States I might now a guy... (hint it's me).

 

[motortrend]

Yeah, I'm really happy I was able to find someone who was selling all of these parts. Usually you just get the headlights and then have to buy adapters, wires, and if you're lucky enough to find the switch separately.

And that's a pretty cool feature! Mine are similar, I just have to adjust/set them at the three positions (0, 1, 2) and then I can select them whenever I want. By the way, if you ever want to trade your car for an M3 in the States I might now a guy... (hint it's me).

Definitely useful to have your switch when someone has annoying headlights at you Thanks for the compliment (I think). I really like your E36 and would love to have one but in a couple of years I might get an E92 so having an E36 would be overkill

 

[Crash]

Oooo, those headlights look purrty and 👍 on the manual adjuster as well.

My car auto aims as well, and I can see it try to aim, but I think it's still too low.

 

[motortrend]

Oooo, those headlights look purrty and 👍 on the manual adjuster as well.

My car auto aims as well, and I can see it try to aim, but I think it's still too low.

Check the adjusters. If you can move the headlights from the back manually they are broken. Usually when they break they start aiming down.

 

[hemisport15]

Definitely useful to have your switch when someone has annoying headlights at you Thanks for the compliment (I think). I really like your E36 and would love to have one but in a couple of years I might get an E92 so having an E36 would be overkill

Haha that may or may not be the plan... And it wouldn't be overkill at all! You shouldn't deny yourself the best handling car in the world (in 1997).

Oooo, those headlights look purrty and 👍 on the manual adjuster as well.

My car auto aims as well, and I can see it try to aim, but I think it's still too low.

Thanks and I agree with motortrend. You might need to make sure everything is in working order and not broken.

 

[lilcat89]

You have a lovely M3. I have been looking for one as a project for a while. Your car looks so clean and pretty close to new.

 

[hemisport15]

You have a lovely M3. I have been looking for one as a project for a while. Your car looks so clean and pretty close to new.

Thank you! I'm trying my best to take care of it and keep it looking good, but it's not easy. A poor respray job done by someone has lead to the clear coat to start dying pretty badly alone the hood and roof. I need to get that taken care of at some point (gonna need a lot of cash for that). And don't give up on looking! There are some serious deals on these cars out there if you can find them.

As for an update on the car, I finally got the exhaust on and it sounds amazing! Unfortunately my phone crashes every time I try to upload it so that's gonna have to wait. Also I was planning on buying all of my new window trim and a new cowl piece for under the hood/along the windshield but I had a minor accident. While driving in Virginia I hit a very large bump in a construction zone. And when I say bump, I mean about a 5 inch height difference between two roads. I couldn't see the bump and there wasn't any sign around so I hit it going about 30 mph and there was quite a large bang. Long story short, the new rattle noise is either a blown shock or a broken sway bar end link. So funds are gonna have to go towards that.

 

[Ingram]

As for an update on the car, I finally got the exhaust on and it sounds amazing! Unfortunately my phone crashes every time I try to upload it so that's gonna have to wait. Also I was planning on buying all of my new window trim and a new cowl piece for under the hood/along the windshield but I had a minor accident. While driving in Virginia I hit a very large bump in a construction zone. And when I say bump, I mean about a 5 inch height difference between two roads. I couldn't see the bump and there wasn't any sign around so I hit it going about 30 mph and there was quite a large bang. Long story short, the new rattle noise is either a blown shock or a broken sway bar end link. So funds are gonna have to go towards that.

It may be a good shout to double check if anything else took a knock under there too. I only mention it as when I had my E36 (a 328 rather than an M3, mind) I cracked my radiator from a similar (but slower) sudden drop as I was driving it.

 

[hemisport15]

It may be a good shout to double check if anything else took a knock under there too. I only mention it as when I had my E36 (a 328 rather than an M3, mind) I cracked my radiator from a similar (but slower) sudden drop as I was driving it.

Thanks, but it looks like we figured out definitely what was wrong. We took off the front driver's side wheel and there was oil on the back of it, then we saw oil all over the strut so its definitely blown. Now I'm faced with the decision of which route to go in order to fix it. I could go used Bilstein (which he recommended) for the time being or splurge and buy coils like I planned on doing way later. I'm pretty undecided because I would like to lower the car a little bit and make it handle even better, but after dealing with the aftermarket suspension (which was also a pretty poor setup) on my Corrado I'm not sure if I wanna give up the comfort and ride quality of the stock suspension.

Any thoughts?

 

[hemisport15]

Well guys, in typical fashion for me, here's another very delayed update.

My suspension choice/dilema is somewhat over! I will be buying KW Variant 2 coilovers.

I went this route because these coils have been proven to be quality and offer exactly what I need in terms of ride comfort and adjustability. I'll also be getting a nice little discount on them too so that helped....

The next update is about the steering wheel I mentioned way earlier in the thread. My stock/original steering wheel has some bad wear on the top from one of the owners only holding it at the 12 o'clock position. So my Christmas gift this year is this beautiful thing...

A 3 spoke Euro wheel with air bag. It's rewrapped with added thumb rests and was thickened as you can see in the next picture...

I also got the headlights installed and they are amazing. They might be my favorite mod so far simply because the help soooo much. Unfortunately, I haven't taken a good picture of them yet. I'll try to fix that soon.

But even with all of these good updates, I'm faced with another dilemma. Now I have to pick what camber plates to go with! It's between these Vorshlags that are both camber and caster adjustable (also more expensive with no possible discount).

Or these Ground control plates that are only camber adjustable (cheaper with an additional discount too).

And here's a bonus video of the exhaust from this past summer. Hopefully I'll have a better one soon.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/45319489@N04/15331908160/

 

[motortrend]

Dig the steering wheel, one of the best things you can do since you're always in contact with it and it's always right in front of you. I want to rewrap mine but I'd rather do it more OEM-like without the perforations. I bet you'll love the extra padding, I like the thicker M wheels a lot.

About the plates, both brands as you probably know are really good. I'd probably go ground control since it's cheaper and you probably don't need to be adjusting the caster, especially on a street car.

 

[hemisport15]

Dig the steering wheel, one of the best things you can do since you're always in contact with it and it's always right in front of you. I want to rewrap mine but I'd rather do it more OEM-like without the perforations. I bet you'll love the extra padding, I like the thicker M wheels a lot.

About the plates, both brands as you probably know are really good. I'd probably go ground control since it's cheaper and you probably don't need to be adjusting the caster, especially on a street car.

Yeah, the more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards the ground control plates. Also, if you want a link to a couple of the guys on ebay that sell rewrapped wheels I can send them to you. My friend bought one for his E39 and it's awesome... very high quality, looks perfect and well worth the money.

Here's a pic for reference

 

[motortrend]

Yeah, the more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards the ground control plates. Also, if you want a link to a couple of the guys on ebay that sell rewrapped wheels I can send them to you. My friend bought one for his E39 and it's awesome... very high quality, looks perfect and well worth the money.

Here's a pic for reference

I sent a few messges to Tairik on eBay and it seems I could get a full nappa leather without perforations (like OEM) which would be exactly what I want. Do you know any more sellers?

 

[hemisport15]

I sent a few messges to Tairik on eBay and it seems I could get a full nappa leather without perforations (like OEM) which would be exactly what I want. Do you know any more sellers?

I looked at a lot of Tainik's wheels, but then I found out about a user that goes by Ledermanz. He does the same stuff as Tainik, but some of his prices are better and I had my wheel in about 2 weeks as opposed to 2 months. I initially planned on going with a little more extreme wheel, but it didn't really go with the overall look of my car.

He does flat bottom conversions, adds thumb rests, and can add palm rests. As you can see, the above wheel is once that he has done a lot of work to. It's all personal preference, hope that helps!

 

[hemisport15]

After all the debating, choices, and hiccups the car is finally done for the time being.

I went on vacation to Aruba from the 13th to the 18th and during that time I left my car at the shop to have everything put on. The plan was to have the car all done by the time I got back so all that was left was the alignment. Per usual, none of that really went to plan and I just got my car back yesterday. Anyway, onto the pictures.

Here are the KW's.

Which replaced these pieces of scrap. You can see the blown shock with oil all over it.

As you can see, everything was totally worn out or rotted. Even the mounts were totally shot.

Here is the car before we dialed in the rear height. Initially we had the rear too low and the front too soft so the car was bouncing around pretty badly.

And here are some crappy pics of where the car is sitting for now. Once everything settles, we're going to do some more adjustments and the final alignment.

(don't mind the awful brake dust)

And here are some of the new wheel. If you don't have a thick steering wheel in your car, I highly recommend finding a way to get one. Also, don't mind the mess... I'm sure you can tell that the entire car is filthy.

 

[hemisport15]

Triple Post wooo! Anway, I figured I should post some random pics of the car now that suspension is all settled and tied up. I also snapped a couple pics of the headlights since I never took any good ones since they've been installed. All pics were taken with my iPhone 6 and edited with Afterlight except the full 3/4 angle shot. I gave VSCO cam a try for that one.

As you can tell, daily driving this car during the glorious PA winters makes it just a little dirty. Here are some detail shots of the filth... I mean ride height.

My driveway is at a slight decline plus this camera angle makes the front look lower than it really is.

Especially compared to this one

Rear tire gap

Front gap (once again, a little deceiving due to the driveway angle and camera angle)

 

[hemisport15]

For those of you who don't frequent the "Post a pic of your real car" thread, here is the untimely last update on my M3.

At this point I don't really feel like typing everything out again. So long story short: I was making a lane change while going around 40-45mph and something caused the rear tires to lose all traction. I couldn't save the slide and I went completely sideways into the right lane and then backwards through a turn lane. After that the car hopped a curb, chopped a road sign in half, and then I hit a tree. Here are some pics of the aftermath.

Holy crap @hemisport15! Glad to hear that you walked away and you're ok.

Thank you.

Emotionally, or for safety reasons? 'Cos I'd say that actually the car looks like it did its job in this instance. I'd normally champion small, lightweight cars, but the E36 is substantial enough that you managed to walk away from an accident like this...

Of course an E46 might be even better, but I'd not be put off owning a car you love through a freak incident.

Mainly for emotional reasons. I had so many plans for that car and I was really excited to get started on them this year, but then everything changed so quickly. But I'd be lying if I didn't say that safety had a little influence on my decision as well.

Jesus christ. Well, to be honest there's good news: if it happened Wednesday and all you have is a sore knee and tight shoulder, that's most likely the only problems You'll have. Glad to hear you're ok. When you decide to post the story in your thread, do you mind tagging me?
if I remember from a previous post, you have a second car, correct?

Edit-maybe I should have looked at the rest of the page!

Sorry I'm a little confused haha. I can use my parents cars for a little while , but I'm going to do something soon.

Glad you're OK hemisport15.

I was once hit just behind the driver's door by a much heavier car and spun 180 degrees in an instance (right at an intersection). After walking up to a house to call for a tow truck (back before cell phones) and back I noticed a sore knee. I banged it on the door then the steering column. Neck was sore for a few days too. Arms and shoulders seemed OK.

Take care the next couple days. You may find more tweaked spots on your body.

Thanks. I'm starting to realize that my shoulder blade got hit harder than I thought since that's the only thing that seems to be giving me issues anymore.

As the process continues I will be sure to keep everyone updated.

 

[SVX]

My reaction when I saw the thread title:

But seriously though, I'm incredibly glad to hear you're okay, @hemisport15. That's a nasty, nasty accident.

Hope you feel better soon. 👍

 

[Mack Daddy]

Feel for ya man, done the exact same thing to my first m3.

Break it for parts, buy another one and take up drifting. That`s what i done XD

 

[Ibonibo]

You can now officially have a second birthday mate.

That is really nasty and a whole lot of lucky. Happy you had that luck on your side (at the B-Pillar).

Your knee is better? Or is it hypersensitive now when you slightly touch it?


Just a question: What KW had you in it? Is it one of those with seperate damper settings? Was it really dialed in properly?
Sorry, just some thing that pops my mind looking at the last few posts. Bilstein are bulletproof save as they have fixed rebound and compression rates that are tied togehter. KW on the other hand are not tied together. You basiclly can dial them in so wrongly that they become dangerous to drive.

Sad to see all the love the bimmer got and the not cheapo upgrades it got.

Well better the bimmer than you.

Glad you are okay 👍

 

[Hayden]

Truly sorry for your loss mate. Very scary accident and cringeworthy pics. Glad to hear you're pulling up okay and I hope that shoulder isn't anything serious.

Accidents happen, if you don't want too, you don't have to let it discourage you from doing what you like to do. Mine was something of a major eye opener in my life and while I'll never feel comfortable with what happened, 7 months on I can say it certainly made me appreciate things and become a better person.

Keep your chin up my friend, you're not alone in this.

 

[20832]

That looks incredibly nasty! Glad to hear that you walked away from this crash (relatively) unharmed, considering the damage displayed in the pictures, I've expected much worse!

You can replace a car (independent on how much emotinal value was attached to it), but you cannot replace a human life.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

When I read the title I just thought maybe the engine went or transmission but WOW!! That looked really nasty. The people you passed must have been shocked too. So glad you survived the crash. You are very lucky it hit directly on the B pillar. If it was even a few inches forward of the B pillar, you might not be here to type about it.

 

[Cano]

When I read the title I just thought maybe the engine went or transmission but WOW!! That looked really nasty.

This. I never imagined a chrash, much less so of that magnitude. So, so glad you made it out alive, even more so with so few consequences.

 

[Parker]

Shame about the car but I'm glad you're okay.

 

[Clark]

Holy F that looks nasty, glad to see your ok. Good to see you unharmed but I didn't think an E36 would get bent up that much, dread to think what I crash in my old E30 would've been like.

Any ideas for a replacement?